Egypt’/Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Dr. Youssif Waliey confirmed that Egyptian Government’s target is to encourage farmers to cultivate cotton, reduce burdens and increase farmers income through carrying the costs of preparing the pre-cultivated land by laser, cleaning ditches, canals and drainers. These costs are determined to reach up to 176 EGP per feddan, in addition to farmer support from the government for cotton pest control which amounts to 100 EGP/feddan.It was stated that all the agriculture directorates have started to prepare the selected land for cotton plantations in order to start the cultivation by next week. Moreover, the state has supplied farmers with 250 Ardeb (ardeb – a unit of dry measure used in Egypt) of cotton stabilizers to stimulate the growth of cotton plant. The Egyptian Government’s plan for cotton cultivation is structured based on the opinion given from ALCOTEXA (Alexandria Cotton Exporters Association) which advises the cultivation of Giza86, Giza70 and Giza88 varieties, to supply the export demand for 44 international market. Therefore, the Egyptian Government plan for cotton cultivation this year includes the cultivation of 250,000 feddan for Giza86 (due to the high increase of the international demand on this variety), 180,000 feddan for Giza70 and 45,000 feddan for Giza88.
Date:3/8/2004
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